Not sure if serious, but she is already super famous -- I didn't know who she was before this thread, but I do now... [inappropriate joke goes here]
Besides the future earnings potential, another reason US citizens represent other countries (not even their ancestral country) is to have a guaranteed spot and support to compete in the Olympics. Eileen is a gold medal favorite now, but that wasn't as clear a case when she declared she'd represent China at the age of 15. Besides that, being able to introduce and inspire a whole generation of kids to your sport is also a pretty big motivation. If you aren't part of a minority group, you probably under estimate how much representation matters.
She's huge in Asia and from what I hear her face is all over the place in the PRC. She's already worth millions in endorsements and the Olympics will likely make her a global superstar. I haven't followed her enough to have a solid opinion whether her choosing to compete for the PRC is just about money, feeling for the mother's country or something else. The PRC though has a very poor Winter Sports culture with few natural winter athletes. Where they've found success is taking people from their vast gymnastics program and putting them on skis for Aerials or snowboard for half pipe. I actually got the chance to ski about 13 years ago at their then Winter Olympic training center outside of Harbin, where they originally had thought of hosting the Winter Olympics. I'm a decent skier and pretty much ended up being the best skier on the mountain that day including better than the guide they sent with us. I don't things have changed much since then. Eileen Gu is certainly getting special treatment. Not only on the citizenship issue but also in the amount of freedom she has to travel, train and promote herself. As the situation with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai shows the PRC sports system keeps a very tight reign on their athletes. Promising young athletes are taken from a young age from their families and sent to live in national sports training institutes. Their lives are very regimented from with emphasis placed all on achieving athletic success. I've met and trained with some PRC Judo Olympians including a gold medalist. While they were nice people it was clear they had very little life skills and had been sheltered from dealing with things like how to live on their own. That Eileen Gu can market herself is a big exception for a top PRC athlete.
Financially, yes she would get lit up. An american citizen is not gonna get the Peng Shuai treatment if something goes south.
Since the backdrop reads '2019,' that'd make her 16 in this picture. She looks like she's pushing 30. I can definitely see how there'd be offhand comments on how attractive she is, despite being barely legal.
I was born and raised in the states. If I was good enough to be a pro athlete and had a choice to represent the US or the country of my ethnic origin I’m picking the latter no doubt. Anywho here’s another young fine Wasian athlete for those that are into that sort of thing.
You didn't mention her name. Some posters might wanna Google pictures showing as much flesh as possible. I'm asking for a friend
The way the US handled the gymnastics scandal soured me on whatever "purity" or "nationalism" the Olympics had. It's all about the money. You buy carrots on wholesale, string them in front of impressionable youths, then bank the profit. Hundreds of millions are thrown around just for a location that hasn't even been built yet. Yeah, might have been warmer and fuzzier if she repped the US and won something, but Eileen has a right to choose, even if I don't like China or have to be reminded of the upfront sleeze.
I'm personally completely fine with her getting the bag. I just sure as hell don't want her to pull a Lebron and pretend to be "more than an athlete" only when its time to criticize US issues that don't cost you money.
I guess we'll see how well she can keep her mouth shut while the dump trucks of money keep piling in. We don't have islands to banish "dissidents", but cancelling and social shunning is just as vicious here as it is there. Her best hope is to bank 20-30+ million, coast/sandbag with responses to her mixed heritage, then glide her way out of the limelight as the world goes to ****.
